Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak completed the opening day of Croatia Rally in excellent style, recording tenth-fastest time in overall standings on the final stage and moving up into fourth position in the WRC2 classification! The LOTOS Rally Team crew did a very good job in extremely tough conditions, avoiding punctures and errors committed by some of their rivals. The Polish duo fight for a top-three spot, trailing their nearest rivals by less than 10 seconds.
Just as it was the case in the morning, wet tyres were in use during the second loop. With standing water in many places and more mud after cars running in lower categories, Kajetanowicz and Szczepaniak maintained consistent pace, setting top-five stage times in their category. After day one they hold fourth position in the WRC2 standings, ahead of more than 20 rivals.
– It was a really extreme opening day of Croatia Rally. Rain and mud made the road very slippery in places. We are in the mix, fighting for podium with less than 10 seconds’ gap to third position. However, the most important thing is that I enjoy my driving all the time. We showed good, fast and consistent pace, so I am very happy. The tyre gambles could play even more important role tomorrow, while today everybody chose rain tyres. Another challenging day awaits us – but this is what the World Rally Championship is all about! Tomorrow we will be back in fight, doing our best
– says Kajetan Kajetanowicz, the LOTOS Rally Team driver.
The schedule for Saturday consists of four special stages, each of them run twice: Kostanjevac-Petruš Vrh (23.76 kms, at 7:43 and 15:16 CET), Jaškovo-Mali Modruš Potok (10.10 kms, at 8:41 and 16:14 CET), Platak (15.85 kms, at 10:09 and 17:42 CET) and Vinski Vrh-Duga Resa (8.78 kms, at 11:38 and 19:08 CET).
Starts of Kajetan Kajetanowicz are supported by strategic partner of the LOTOS Rally Team – Grupa LOTOS, technical partner Delphi Technologies, as well as Pirelli, SJS Driving Experience and Grupa Sikora.
Croatia Rally 2022, unofficial WRC2 standings after SS8:
- Rossel/Sarreaud (France, Citroën C3 Rally2) 1:20:48.1
- Gryazin/Aleksandrov (Russia, Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +36.3
- Camilli/de la Haye (France, Citroën C3 Rally2) +59.2
- Kajetanowicz/Szczepaniak (Poland, Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +1:09.0
- Lindholm/Hämäläinen (Finland, Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +1:36.7
- Ingram/Drew (Great Britain, Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +1:38.9
- Lefebvre/Malfoy (France, Citroën C3 Rally2) +2:16.3
- Munster/Louka (Luxembourg/Belgium, Hyundai i20 N Rally2) +2:33.7
- Cais/Těšínský (Czech Republic, Ford Fiesta Rally2) +3:42.1
- Heikkilä/Vaaleri (Finland, Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +3:50.3
